Apr 22, 2011

Screening May 13 and 14 at “Celebrating Orphan Films”

Highlights from the two-day program will include the following:



Friday, May 13 – Opening Night includes

LIGHT CAVALRY GIRL (Jie Shen, 1980)


Produced by the Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio in China, Light Cavalry Girl pays homage to the motorcycle stylings of the military's top female riders. Director Jie Shen, now retired, was one of China’s most prolific documentary filmmakers.


Presented by Yongli Li of the Beijing Film Academy and University of South Carolina Moving Image Research Collections. USC MIRC houses a Chinese Film Collection (中国电影收藏) of some 900 film prints and 1,000 DVDs.




Saturday, May 14 - Closing screening includes


Three Newly Preserved Super 8 Short Films by Andrea Callard

LOST SHOE BLUES (Andrea Callard, 1976)
West of the newly completed World Trade Center, the yet to be developed Battery Park City landfill had emerged as an undeclared natural preserve. Andrea Callard found unexpected riches of clover that she surveys with her Super 8 camera. Her vocal rendition of "Lost Shoe Blues" adds to the ironic discovery of a complex sentiment of regret.

FLORA FUNERA (FOR BATTERY PARK CITY) (Andrea Callard, 1976)
Another natural discovery from the Battery Park landfill, this film features synchronized audio of stones being tossed against the reinforcement bars of a retaining wall to create musical notes.

11 THRU 12 (1977)
A “No Wave” masterpiece that uses the structure of the I Ching to explore the absurdity of explanation and the limits of the measuring mind. Bill Brand (BB Optics) preserved these films for NYU’s Fales Library & Special Collections, which houses the Andrea Callard Collection.

Andrea Callard in 11 thru 12; (center) detail of same; (right) Callard in 2010.



** ** ** ** **
There’s only three weeks left until the "Celebrating Orphan Films" symposium commences at UCLA. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see an eclectic selection of unique and innovative films presented by numerous luminaries in the fields of archiving, preservation and film scholarship.
For more information and to purchase event passes or tickets for select screenings visit: http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2011-05-13/celebrating-orphan-films.



-- posted by Ashley Smith (NYU Cinema Studies)

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